Hamels had a solid effort last night and Cain looked like he struggled with control a bit. Not a huge statement by either guy, but both should still be in the race.

Serious question: should Kris Medlen get any consideration? It's getting silly how ridiculous this guy has been. Sabathia got a few votes when he carried the Brewers down the stretch a few years back and Kris is doing enough where he could steal a few key votes from the other guys.

Kimbrel is gonna get some votes. not close to winning it though. since April you've had a hit a HR if you want to score on him.

Kimbrel and Chapman will in all likelihood steal some 4th, 5th and possibly even some 3rd place votes.

The way I see it, a vote for either of those guys is basically a vote for Dickey. Right now, Dickey is the only guy who *should* end up no worse than second on every single voters ballot:

For voters that put the heaviest emphasis on the ratios, he's 1st in ERA and 2nd in WHIP

For voters that still like wins, he's 2nd in that category

For voters who like sexy K numbers, Dickey is 2nd in strikeouts

For voters that like a workhorse, he's 2nd in innings pitched

For pro-sabermetric folks, Dickey is 2nd in WAR (bbref's model)

Just for good measure, he leads the league in complete games (5) and shutouts (3)

No other candidate has had that level of success across so many major categories. Even Kershaw is at a slight disadvantage if there are voters that will look down on his 12 wins.

This is obviously purely speculative, but I would imagine that Dickey will end up no worse than second on a very healthy majority of voters' ballots. Cueto, Gonzalez and Kershaw will obviously each get their share of 1st and 2nd place votes, but the only way they'll be able keep pace with Dickey is if they can get those 3rd, 4th and 5th place votes. If guys like Kimbrel, Chapman, Miley, Medlen and Zimmermann are sneaking in there, it'll start to really eat into the frontrunners' point totals and could spell disaster for fringe candidates like Cain, Hamels and Lohse.

Again, this is all just speculation on my end. Also looming large: Kershaw's hip problems. The Dodgers are all in and I expect Clayton to go out and do his thing tomorrow to keep his team in the running. There is, however, talk of him possibly being skipped, and if that happens, it could be all that Dickey needs to tip the balance in his favor.

If Medlen is 5-0 the rest of the went, ends at 13-1 with a 1.80 ERA, where is he ending up?

Does he have any shot of making the top 5?

Well, it looks like Kris has 3 starts left. If he ends up with 140 innings pitched and a sub-2 ERA, he should definitely get some love. I don't see him placing higher than Dickey, Kershaw, Gonzalez or Cueto, but I don't think a 5th-place finish is impossible. He will an important factor in this race though because he has a chance to seriously mix things up.